CBR: Atlas Comics Set For Comeback

[CBR News]

The short-lived Marvel competitor founded by Martin Goodman will get a second go thanks to its originator's grandson as Atlas Comics prepares "Phoenix" and "The Grim Ghost" for a debut at New York Comic Con.


Full article here.

[Gryphon]

This could be good.

[Heroid]

I was a big fan of these books when they came out. Grim Ghost was a beautiful book with art by Ernie Colon. Can't wait to see the modern versions!

[Brother Justin Crowe]

Does Jimmy Woo secretly own this company, too?

[booziehand]

This definitely could be interesting :) i may put it on my list of things to check out

[Ex_]

DeMatteis' involvement is never a bad thing.

[Chadhulhu]

Was only 2 when they were out, will take in a new super-hero comics when they are available.

[redvector]

I remember my favorite Atlus comic was The Destructor. Take Wolverine's healing factor and savagery and give it to the Punisher. You'd come pretty close to The Destructor.

[hondobrode]

These came out a year before I picked up on comics.

Yes there was some great talent on the books and looking back I'm surprised they quit as soon as they did.

I'll def give em a look.

Never thought we'd see the characters again. I guess everything comes back eventually.

DeMatties is a def plus too.

I wonder if Marvel is going to hassle them about the whole Atlas thing.

[KryptonSite]

I love this idea - didn't even know it was possible to revive those characters from limbo! - but I wish there were some names attached that I was familiar with, beyond DeMatteis. Right now it just looks like VERY independent comics, which is fine, but with the right look/marketing, as derivative as those original characters were, a revived Atlas could, I think, be a contender.

Although I'm surprised "Phoenix" is one of the first revivals... you'd think that name was more associated with... someone else.

[Hypestyle]

are these people open to new submissions, character concepts/pitches?

[Xero]

Well this is a welcome bit of news I loved Atlas Comics, used to have a complete set before I sold them off back in the early nineties. And I would love to get them all back in trade paperback format.

[emb021]

Don't know about this.

I missed Atlas when they first came out, getting them as back issues in the late 80s. I don't have a complete set (some titles I didn't bother with), but many of the characters seemed very derivative.

Oh, there were a few interesting ideas, and some good creators, but overall...

You also had the problem of the '3rd issue switch' in which the last issue (#3 or 4) was totally different from the prior issues, usually due to a change in the creative team.

Some of the titles I thought were good:

* Scorpion (by Chaykin. He continued with this type of character as Dominic Fortune)
* Destructor
* Phoenix
* Grim Ghost
* Targitt (l liked it if others didn't)

Somewhat interesting were titles like Morlock 3000, Tigerman, etc. Planet of Vampires could have been decent, but wasn't.

Wonder if they will do a reprint of their old stuff...

[benday-dot]

It would be premature to knock something before it has a chance to fully present itself, but I'm not very optimistic this revival will manage to impress.

I have a good portion of the originals and while they were interesting, they were not very good. As has been pointed out, some great artistic talent was brought to bear, but everything fell apart after the the first or second issue of each title. Atlas/Seaboard was so busy trying to ape and bring down Marvel it gave up any notion of trying to embark on it's own original course. It was also a victim of terrible mismanagement.

Of course that was then... but present day success will be contingent on getting today's great talent to work for them. Good writers will be paramount, since most of the old company's lineup of characters were thoroughly of their time, and, better or for worse, reeked of the 70's.

Most revivals of old school characters in a modern day milieu fail because creators either couldn't recapture what was great of the "old days" or because, even though managing to improve upon a previous era of storytelling, still cannot build an audience that cares enough to pay attention in an overcrowded superhero community.

[ComicsBronzeAge]

Looking forward to this. I’ve recently been rereading and reviewing several of the old Atlas (Seaboard) books on my Web site, Comics Bronze Age, and there’s a lot of material ripe for exploration. The Grim Ghost, in particular, has a great back story, and the involvement of J.M. DeMatteis gives me high hopes.

Hope this mean collected editions of the old material might be on the way, too.

Andrew
ComicsBronzeAge.com